The Christian Police Association is urging people to "help the Police protect you" as Policing Minister Kit Malthouse has warned police will be quicker to act against those breaching the measures in England.

At least 32,000 fines were issued up to December 2020 in England and Wales, of which 8,000 were issued in November last year.

Executive director of the Christian Police Association, Lee Russell, told Premier it's hard to say if the fines are helping.

"There are a number of fines being issued. But of course, there's been some high-profile cases where people have said that they'd really hadn't broken the rules. Of course, that makes it really, really confusing for the street police officer trying to do a difficult job."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been heavily criticised for riding his bike seven miles away from Downing Street and two women recently had fines revoked for meeting up for a walk with coffee five miles away from their homes. 

There are calls for the Government to clarify the definition of "local", a move which London's Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said would be "helpful".

Russell wants to encourage people to think twice before making a journey. 

"The police are in a really invidious position here, to enforce restrictions on people who want to do normal things. But the key issue is, if we do stay at home and we modify our lifestyle, we may well save someone's life."

He added: "Speaking to a colleague of mine a couple of days ago, five of his team are off sick with Covid and two are in hospital. And yet he's turning up every day trying to help communities. So, I would say simply, if you have to ask yourself twice, 'Do I need to do this journey?', then the answer probably is 'You don't need to do it'".